


Ghost of a Chance

by Wolfsheart



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes & Peggy Carter Friendship, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, M/M, Open Relationships, We both love Steve so let's be friends for his sake, We both love a feisty little punk, We could all die tomorrow so let's just love each other as best we can, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23069800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfsheart/pseuds/Wolfsheart
Summary: It's 1943, Bucky and what's left of the 107th are rescued and safe in London, and Bucky and Peggy both love Steve.  Peggy knows what's up and decides to face the elephant in the room with Bucky: sharing Steve and becoming friends.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Peggy Carter, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	Ghost of a Chance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scottxlogan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scottxlogan/gifts).



> From [a this fandom prompt list on Tumblr](https://sheisstrangerthanfiction.tumblr.com/post/611802107502313472/fanfic-prompt-list), and the prompt I was given: “We’re in love with the same person. Friendships have been built on less common ground.” Title from song "(I Don't Stand) A Ghost of a Chance," lyrics by Ben Washington and Bing Crosby, [sung by Bing Crosby in 1932](https://youtu.be/GH5gmttW-sg).

* * *

**December 1943; London, England**

Scratchy tunes faded in and out from the radio in the training facility. Bucky's eyes focused on the two men in the makeshift boxing ring, working in some training while the remains of the 107th continued to enjoy their break from combat. 

Eventually, they'd have to get back in the fight. 

Eventually, they'd follow the golden blond leader who barely matched the image Bucky went into combat with seared into his mind. 

Eventually, he'd be chasing after Steve like he always did, but this time, they'd be equals against the mutual enemy. 

Steve didn't even need him anymore, did he?

So, what the hell was Bucky supposed to do with himself anymore if Steve didn't need him?

"He's pretty amazing to watch, isn't he, Sargent Barnes?"

Bucky glanced over to see the pretty brunette whose heart Steve had managed to snag. All on his own, too. Bucky hadn't needed to set up a blind date or anything with this one. He huffed and shrugged a shoulder. 

"I always thought he was pretty amazing to watch, even before that Howard Stark guy got his hands on him," he retorted. "Now his body just matches the heart of that feisty little shit I had to help out in fights before his asthma knocked him out worse than his opponent." 

Peggy glanced up at Bucky then back at the ring in time to see Steve take a hit to the face from Gabe that actually knocked him back a step. She and Bucky winced but chuckled in unison. They looked at each other, both scanning each other's eyes like possessive mates. 

Then their lips pulled back in half smiles, as if they'd accepted something about each other. 

A little tension and awkwardness let go of them both. 

"I thought the feisty little shit was something special, too. For the record, Sargent Barnes, in case you were thinking I only noticed him once Erskine's serum and Stark's machine took hold," Peggy hedged once she identified the tension between them. 

Bucky leaned his shoulder against one of the heavy posts in the room, hands tucked into the pockets of his olive-drab trousers. He tilted his head to stare at Peggy again. He always understood what Steve saw in her. She wasn't just drop-dead gorgeous, she was dangerous, take-no-bullshit, sturdy but just in the way that it meant no one could knock her down without her fucking permission, and she had brains for miles in the way some men might describe a woman's legs. 

"Well, good for you, Agent Carter. Says a lot about you. Back in Brooklyn, I tried like hell to set him up on dates...double dates with me. They never worked out. Those girls couldn't see what you and I see in him," Bucky stated and found it a little easier to keep the bitterness out of his voice. He liked Peggy well enough...for the woman who could give Steve everything he couldn't. 

Peggy's eyes were still focused on Steve, but she spared a side-glance at Bucky. 

"It's Peggy, since Steve really wants you and I to become friends," she informed him. This earned her an upraised eyebrow and a smirk. 

"Oh, does he now?" the soft question dropped from his lips. _Is it to be a white picket fence for you two and lonely Uncle Bucky drops by with beer for the barbecue and who throws the baseball with your perfect kids?_

Bucky kept his thoughts to himself, but somehow, Peggy still saw the inkling of it in his eyes. 

"Look, we’re in love with the same person. Friendships have been built on less common ground," she announced, only loud enough for Bucky to hear, startling him just enough to lose that smirk and to push himself up from the post he leaned against. 

His eyes seemed to darken with the worry that gripped his heart and churned his stomach. He looked around to see if anyone else heard. 

"How the hell do you know that? I mean, how do you know what I feel?" Bucky had to gulp a breath. Well, any chance of denying it outright was gone forever in the words he tossed out. 

Peggy rolled her eyes. 

"How do you think I know that? Steve told me. He told me everything, Sargent Barnes. Told me how you two met when you were thirteen and kept bullies from stealing his lunch money. How you kept him from getting his scrawny ass killed. How you two...grew closer than best friends in a neighborhood where that would've gotten you both trashed within an inch of your lives." She looked at Bucky again and saw the way his eyes went back to normal and his shoulders relaxed. "He told me about 'to the end of the line'. I'll be honest, if he hadn't already told me, I might've suspected something more when he defied Colonel Phillips and convinced Stark to drop him over Germany to rescue you. I don't know many 'best friends' who'd go through that much for each other." 

Bucky stared at Steve in the ring, now giving back to Gabe as rough as he was dealt. He'd trained that little shit to make those moves, and he hadn't done too bad with them back then...except for the wheezing, the lack of breath, the heart that nearly exploded in his chest, and the blacking out after ten to fifteen minutes, depending on if it was a good day for Steve or not.

"He...told you, and you're not...reporting him...or me...or getting upset..." 

She gave him a gentle smile now and the time to absorb what she'd said. 

"No, Sargent Barnes. I mean, yes, he told me. He was very direct about it. I think he worried about my reaction the way you're worrying about it now, but...it is what it is, and I'm not upset about it. We both love Steve, we're in the middle of a war that's bigger and more deadly than whatever petty jealousies we could feel toward each other right now, so why not just enjoy our time with him in case we don't have it tomorrow...or the next day?" 

When he crawled out of bed this morning, alone and assuming it would always be alone now, Bucky hadn't thought he'd be having this conversation. In a million years, he couldn't have dreamed of talking to Peggy about this. He just presumed this thing about this important person in his life, made a sad peace with it, and moved on. He could be dead tomorrow for all he knew. 

"That's a much...different reaction to that than I expected. I'm...impressed. I'm...well, in shock, I guess," Bucky said and resumed leaning against the post, only now with his back to his, his attention on Peggy in full. 

She just snorted, softly, her lips pulled back in a half smile. 

"I'm not here to impress you. Or Steve, to be fair. And your shock will wear off, especially, I think, once the three of us discuss how we want to go from here. All three of us. How we can make this work in all our best interests and how to keep you two from being flung out of the Army and into the brig, as if it should be anyone's business." Peggy shook her head, as if the military poking its nose into their business was a persistently biting flea. 

She stepped close to Bucky again and held out her hand. 

"What do you say, Sargent Barnes? Think we can become friends for that jerk over there?" 

Bucky stared down at Peggy's outstretched hand, silent, calculating his words before he spoke them. Finally, he clasped her hand in his. An equal in this crazy world of theirs. 

"I'm the jerk. He's the punk. And call me Bucky." 

They shook hands then looked over at the ring to find Steve staring at them, that ridiculous but cute half-cocked smile aimed in their direction. 


End file.
